On a fairly quiet start to the week for both economic and corporate announcements the FTSE 100 takes its cue from weak trading in Asia overnight to start 3.95 points lower at 7,405.69.
Consumer electronics business Samsung shed 4% to hit a one-month low after Morgan Stanley cut its recommendation on the South Korean business, helping to drag the wider equity market in the country lower.
The market is unimpressed by academic publishing firm Pearson’s (PSON) $300m sale of its Wall Street English language teaching business to a consortium of funds. The deal will only reduce net debt by $100m due to costs and the fact $150m will remain within the disposed business. The shares drop 1.7% to 696p in response.
Defence business Ultra Electronics (ULE) is unable to claw back ground lost in the wake of a profit warning two weeks ago despite winning two new contracts. The shares slip 0.2% to £12.28 as it unveils work worth £16.6m on advanced surveillance in the UK and a £9m award from defence and security business Saab of Sweden.
Pharma giant AstraZeneca (AZN) sneaks up 0.4% to £50.01 as it submits a supplemental new drug application in Japan for its Tagrisso lung cancer treatment.
Micro-cap security systems provider Newmark Security (NWT:AIM) announces its Grosvenor Technology business has won a new €3m contract with a leading European workforce management provider.
Fellow minnow, bioscience energy firm EQTEC (EQT:AIM) drops 47.7% 0.85 as its shares emerge from a four-month suspension and it reveals the £14m acquisition of power plant engineer EQTEQ Iberia.
